Monthly Archives: March 2016

Capstone Project: Student debt crisis

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My capstone project is on student debt crisis in the U.S.
Students at Washington state university and throughout many colleges and universities across the country suffer with loan problems. Tuition has sky rocketed from a few years ago causing more students to take out loans. According to the Economist student debt exceeded $1.2trilion in 2014. The direction I decided to follow is to answers the following questions in my project: Does the amount of money students spend on their tuition go back into their pockets? Why is student debt a major problem in the country? What can we do to solve this problem? And what are countries with tuition-free universities doing that we can replicate? My goal is to use some comparison and contrast methods on how much our degrees matter, as well as include statistics to show the effect and consequences of student debt in the long run. I chose this subject because it is a relevant issue in our everyday lives as students and after college. The two media objects I will include in my project are: a continuity video montage and an infographic file. I will incorporate designs and remixes of different files to help visually represent data. Probably add a short video of personal stories with student debt. In addition add a timeline graph to show the trend with tuition increase in the United States. I believe the use of these media relate to each other as it will help better explain the subject matter.

Capstone Intro

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The topic I plan to address for my capstone project is the orphan crisis in China. Hand in hand with that, I will address the need for adoption. I am interested in this topic because I’ve been on a few missionary trips and developed a heart for connecting these kids to families and giving them hope through advocacy. I really got to know more about how adoption works and heard countless stories of these Chinese orphans since starting my internship at Bring Me Hope, which I also plan on using for this project as a major resource.

I want my website to take the direction of an informative piece that talks about hard things like abandoned children waiting for families. Even more so as a call to action. The call to action that I hope will get people involved will be to spread awareness though their social media, invite them to volunteer at orphan summer camps, to host a child at their own home, to financially support a child to go to camp, and finally to actually adopt. I plan on approaching this cause from two sides. One is from the reader/viewer and what they could do and the other is from the orphan’s perspective.

The two medias I will use are a video I will make are an infographic video as well as pictures of the orphans. These medias relate to each other because in the video I will address the issues, and state facts. With pictures I will show the kids that are effected by them.

Capstone Project

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I will be doing my project on the effects of Pokémon on children. I will be focusing on Pokémon as a whole, including the video games, the trading card game, and the television show. I will talk about the social atmosphere of both the video game, and the trading card game, and how it helps children improve social interactions, and can provide a community for both children and adults. Some schools and parents have become worried about the negative effects of Pokémon like bullying or becoming obsessed.

The two media objects that I will be using are an infographic file and an animation. In the infrographic I will use testimony from experts along with information about how the games will change in ways that can be beneficial to children. Also I will give information about events that have brought people together and how common these events are.

The animation I will show how the different games have made it easier for people to play together and how they are beneficial to children. Along with that I would like to have a moving background of previous games showing how they changed, and some pictures of the events mentioned above in the infographic.

I want to have both the animation and the infographic linked to the main website, and to each other, so that somebody viewing them can go to any of the three pages no matter which page the person is on, that person can move to either of the other.

Serene Ghazi Capstone Project

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There is enough food in the world to feed everyone, that is a fact. However, many people don’t know what steps to take to end world hunger. I chose this topic because often it goes unnoticed with all of the disasters happening around the world every day. Although it is a huge problem that we face today, there are many things we can do, especially as students, to help end it, which is why I wanted to discuss these things in my Capstone Project. Solving hunger is a contribution to peace and stability, it also helps increase productivity and creates economic opportunities, it also lays the foundation for progress in health and education. I plan on making an infographic file and an animation. The infographic will show facts about world hunger as well as show the audience how to help end it. The animation will have more details about world hunger and its effects on the world and the people who suffer from it. I plan on making my website filled with visuals rather than long paragraphs because I want people to stay engaged in the topic and I also want the website to be easy to navigate. I plan on incorporating some links to websites that people can donate food, money or even time to help end world hunger.

Ian Mansfield Capstone Project

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The focus of my capstone project is going to be on climate change, and how the human race has played a key role in polluting our Earth. With statistics and proven studies, I hope to debunk the the theories and skeptics against global warming and demonstrate through my capstone project, how big of an impact humans have on climate change. My web site will be laid out in a multi page layout with a navigation bar for easy transitions through the different topic pages. I will include a variety of pictures on each page as well as statistics that I will make easily legible and short in hopes to keep the audience engaged. The two media media objects I plan on using are going to be an infographic, and a remix video. The infographic is going to consist of a variety of facts as well as pictures showing different human activities that cause climate change. The remix video will have multiple clips showing different activities that humans “do” that cause climate change. Such as mass coal burning for electricity, massive mile long traffic jams in china that last for days on end. Unregulated factories in underdeveloped nations that spew out millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and much more.

 

 

Sarah Love’s Capstone Project

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Ever hated all the ads that pop up on your computer or videos? Well one simple installation of AdBlock can fix all your problems and flick the annoying words away! Think back, you may have used it at least once or even still use it now! But should you?
No.
Sure the short little commercials at the start of your video will take at least 5 agonizingly long seconds to skip but using AdBlock on your computer or phone hurts most of the companies or organziations you are trying to watch. Acording to PageFair, 84% of the top websites in the world rely on ads for revenue. Skipping or blocking those ads hurts the company money wise to the point where they can’t afford their huge organization. Think of it as a tradeoff. We can use their websites like Facebook or YouTube for free but we have to deal with their ads.
Sadly some people disagree. The developers of the ever popular AdBlock Plus argue that they should be able to enjoy their sites without having something forced on them. AdBlock Plus has over a million downloads worldwide, and many sites have attacked them saying they are making them lose money.
My side of the Capstone project is to show how an innocent little app is actually causing harm to many loyal companies just trying to stay in profit.
As for my Media objects I will be using an infographic file with various cartoons to show and inform the audience on the cons of using AdBlock. I will also be doing a Remixed Video of many Youtubers and other companies on their take of the issue while also adding in my own thoughts with animations.
Hopefully it will be informative.

Sarah Anderson Capstone Project

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For my Capstone Project, I would like to discuss online piracy of content such as movies, music, and software. Online piracy is the illegal copying of licensed and copyrighted materials from the internet. As the internet becomes more popular and used by the general public, there are more opportunities for people to pirate copyrighted content. About one-fifth of Internet users regularly access sites that offer copyright infringing music. In addition, nearly 70% of people who use the internet find nothing wrong with online piracy However, illegal downloads and piracy takes the profit away from those who have worked hard to create the content and decreases its overall value. The economic impact of global piracy costs $25 billion to U.S. firms in lost sales. I would like to raise awareness of online piracy and show how it is severely and negatively impacting the economy.

For my media objects, I will be using a remixed video and an animation. They will contain information about pirating as well as provide a call to action for the audience. The animation will focus on statistics and facts about the prevalence of piracy while the remixed video will be focused on the economic impacts to different industries. The website will have a home page discussing the topic, a second page containing the animation with links to websites and sources with more information about the statistics, and a third page containing the remixed video with links to websites and sources with more information about the economic impacts.

Jake Pennington Capstone Project

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I will be doing my capstone project on the subject of drug addiction & mass incarceration. Specifically, I will demonstrate that current policies in the U.S., such as mandatory minimum sentencing, result in disproportionate incarceration for nonviolent, drug-related crimes. Furthermore, the reasoning for these policies is at odds with the scientific reality of drug addiction. In short, the political powers that be hope to “solve” the drug problem in the U.S. by locking away “immoral” or “hopeless” persons that just can’t seem to stay away from illegal narcotics. The evidence shows, however, that for a majority of addicts relapse is almost guaranteed without some combination of therapy, medication, or a change of environment. This is due to major changes to the brain’s physiology and function that impair an addict’s ability to make reasoned decisions regarding risk versus reward.
To illustrate these points, I will create an infographic that will showcase statistics about the number of U.S. citizens incarcerated for nonviolent drug-related offenses, the economic and social costs related to their incarceration, and the effectiveness of incarceration versus treatment in reducing the prevalence of drug addiction in the population. I will also create a remixed video that will incorporate infographic elements, brain scan data, and interviews with professionals in order to summarize the case for defining drug addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disease. In conjunction, these two pieces will (hopefully) convince their audience that the United States’ criminal justice system is badly in need of reform in regards to drug offenses.

Kaikee Perry Capstone Project

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For my capstone project, I want to focus on the topic of the effect videogames has on an individual’s mind. There are some individuals who believe that videogames are a deterrent to a individual’s overall behavior and decision-making. I want to reveal the counter argument to this thought, showing the proven positive effects videogames can have on an individual, such as being more aware of your current surroundings and increasing one’s creativity and open-mindedness when problem solving.

For the two media objects, I plan to create an infographic file and an animation. The infographic will concisely describe important facts about my argument, as well as show graphs and statistics. Most of the infographic will be visual. I want to tie the images of the infographic to the animation to bring a sense of connectedness to my project. What I mean is that if I draw a controller for my infographic, I am going to use that controller in my animation. The animation is going to go more in depth about the facts and information about the positive effects videogames have on the mind.

The website is going to have a home page that has links to the animation and the infographic pieces. The home page is going to have a brief statement about my topic and have links to other websites that you can visit to find out more about videogames and the mind. Sources I want to look at to defend my cause are going to be mostly scholarly.

 

Capstone Project

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For my capstone project, I am going to explore the different stereotypes that are often looked over such as, gender roles and cultural differences. I will be choosing two movies to look at, Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid. Disney is considered to be a safe zone as a culture to show children growing up. Watching the films now makes me wonder how Disney got away with stereotypes in the past. The two media objects that I am going to use are an infographic and a remixed video. The infographic will contain a picture of the two characters with blurbs that will point out stereotypes such as, being thin with long hair and beautiful are features that being a Disney princess requires. For the remixed video I will find clips from the two movies that are examples of stereotypes and gender roles that are displayed in the films. On the website the first page will be an about page that gives a brief summary of what my topic will be about as well as photos. The second page will be of the infographic as well as the remixed video. Lastly, the third page will display the references where I retrieved my findings.